'Kogi will pay new minimum wage'- Gov. Bello »

The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has reiterated his readiness to pay the N30,000 new national minimum wage to the state civil servants with a promise to continue to work for improved welfare in the years ahead.

Bello gave this assurance on Monday in a meeting with labour unions held in glass house, government house.

Bello said: “I want to assure you that our state will to pay the new national minimum wage. If other states with lesser income can manage to pay minimum wage, Kogi State will pay. I promise you.

The governor further said his administration placed high premium on workers’ welfare, adding that all it has done in the last three years was to address the myriads of challenges facing the service and develop workable blueprint in addressing those problems.

The governor said that he is happy that within the years under review, tremendous milestones have been achieved in terms of prioritising workers welfare and diversifying the state economy, a position that labours concurs with.

“My administration met a lot of anomaly in the civil service, most of which dated way back to the beginning of civil rule in the state.

“We inherited percent payment just like the administrations before us inherited same. The difference between my administration and those before me is the will to do the right thing. Although the process was painstaking, we’ve been able to weather the storm and things are already shaping up.

“State civil servants are getting their salaries in full, and we have improved on the percentage for local government from 30 to 50 percent, with plans to scale that up in our next tenure. I am determined not to bequeath percentage payment to anyone who will take over from me after eight years.

“Despite meager resources and the need to even the distribution to all sectors of the state, we are able to achieve all these improvements because of the priority we placed on our civil service and our desire to see things work”.

The governor said he was glad that labour leaders have acknowledged and praised their efforts, promising that things will get better as they move ahead.

Earlier in his address, the Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kogi State, Comrade Onuh Edoka, commended the governor for the judicious utilization of the bailout fund, saying that labour unions monitored the expenditure and was satisfied with it.

He said civil servants in the state are mostly happy with the governor for instituting discipline in the workplace and for listening to their pleas by granting clemency to some categories of workers found wanting by the screening committee.

The union however appealed to the governor to make teachers salary a ‘first-line’ charge so they can also benefit from improvements.

While calling on civil servants to be wise in making their decisions on who to vote come November 16, Edoka urged them to take a cursory look at the history of successive governments in the state and determine whether they’ll want to start all over again or to move forward. He called on politicians to desist from using salary as a point for campaign stating that candidates should be more objective in engaging the electorates.

He assured of Labour’s cooperation with government in improving the welfare of workers in the state.

Present at the meeting were the Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja, the chief of staff to the governor, Pharmacist Jamiu Asuku Abdulkarim, Head of service, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and other government appointees.

Also, the President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Kogi State, Comrade Ranti Ojo, NULGE Chairman, Tade Adeyemi, NCSC Chairman, Meliga Obaka
NUT Chairman, Thomas Ayoade, Directors of local governments, Permanent Secretaries of ministries, and leaders of other Labour organizations.